Defence and security company, Saab AB, is cautioning it still has the power to block the transfer of any brand rights for Saab vehicles as speculation rises receivers for the bankrupt automaker are poised to announce a potential buyer.
Saab AB – manufacturer of the Gripen fighter aircraft – partly owns the brand name Saab together with Scania and must first give its approval to any change in owners who wish to retain the carmaker’s name.
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An unremitting barrage of negative publicity has cascaded onto the Saab name for the past year as the automaker fought to stay afloat amid a vast sea of debt, but the defence company is keen for any new buyer to retain a sense of historical legacy.
“A potential buyer of Saab has to respect the Swedish legacy and heritage, engineering and skills that are present in Saab AB and Saab Automobile – [those] are the core values of the brand,” a spokesman for the defence provider told just-auto from Stockholm.
“We have an agreement between Saab AB, Scania and Saab Automobile – we have to agree on the brand to be sold to another party – so yes you can say we can to some extent block the sale. We can block the name and the logo type. If we discuss this with a buyer, it might come up.”
It appears the receivers in Gothenburg are narrowing towards two parties for Saab should they make any decision this week: an unconfirmed Japanese/Chinese consortium believed to be examining an electric route to market and Indian manufacturer Mahindra & Mahindra, which has consistently declined to detail any interest in Saab to just-auto.
“We have a dialogue with the receivers – there are three of them and one is only handling the brand issue,” said the Saab AB spokesman. “I have heard the lawyers hope to present something by 31 May.
“It is important a potential buyer respects the Swedish industrial legacy that we have incorporated into the core values.”
The Saab AB spokesman conceded there had been “a lot” of coverage surrounding the automaker during the past few years, but preferred to steer clear of any suggestion such intense press had impacted on the defence company.
However, he hinted Saab AB would prefer the automaker to remain firmly in the orbit of Swedish influence rather than be shipped overseas by a foreign investor.
“Sweden is important to Saab, to the Saab brand,” he said. “Of course it is important to have, to some extent the company to be still present in Sweden.”
